C+V Community Talk in Partnership with Heritage Months: An Inclusive Future for Latinx People in Colorado

By 2050, Latinx individuals will be the largest share of Colorado’s racial and ethnic minority population at more than 33%. What does the future look like for the Latinx community in Colorado? How do we work together to address the inequities that impact the Latinx community?

While the state is getting more diverse, Denver is getting whiter. And more Latinx people are being displaced from gentrifying neighborhoods in Denver than in any other major U.S. city. How do we conserve our traditions and identity when people are getting displaced from their communities? 

Join us for a discussion about navigating the future in Colorado as a Latinx community member.

Featuring:

Joelle Martinez
President/CEO of the Latino Leadership Institute

Joelle is a nationally recognized executive, strategist, speaker, and facilitator. A visionary leader, Joelle dedicates her life to helping cross-sector leaders realize their individual potential as well as the economic and social opportunities presented by an increasingly diverse U.S. populace.

Learn More about the Latino Leadership Institute

Christopher Pena
Director of Data Management, DU

Christopher Pena is the Director of Data Management in the Office of Institutional Research & Analysis and oversees institutional research operations at the University. The mission of his office is to advance access, equity, and success in higher education by ensuring a culture of assessment, data strategy, and data-informed decision making.

Christopher has worked in higher education for nearly twenty years and is a member of the Board of Directors of his professional organization, the Association for Institutional Research. He regularly presents on the intersection of data strategy and DEI, with a focus on identifying and dismantling structural racism. Christopher is also in the final year of his PhD program in Research Methods & Statistics. His dissertation research examines the use of multiple regression to identify racial disparities in pay equity studies, through the lens of critical race theory and critical quantitative analysis.

Learn More about Institutional Research at DU

Lina Reznicek-Parrado
Director, Spanish Program for Heritage/Bilingual Speakers
Spanish Teaching Assistant Professor, DU

Dr. Lina Reznicek-Parrado directs the Spanish for Heritage/Bilingual Speakers Program and is Teaching Assistant Professor of Spanish in the Department of Spanish Language, Literary and Cultural Studies. Since joining DU in the Fall of 2018, she has led curricular efforts to develop courses for Spanish heritage speakers—students who have personal, familial or community connections to the Spanish language and are interested in furthering their unique linguistic skills in Spanish as part of their academic trajectory.

Lina is an educator and researcher at the intersection of Spanish Sociolinguistics and Education and is interested in issues around bilingual/heritage language education and teacher training, academic language and literacy for linguistically diverse student communities and topics surrounding Spanish in the US. Her work is informed by her own experience as an immigrant and bicultural educator. 

Denisse Solis
Interim Digital Collections Librarian, Visiting Assistant Professor

Denisse Solis (she/ella) was born and raised in Miami, Florida. She accepted a position with DU in 2018 as the University Libraries' first Residency Librarian. She earned a Master's in Library and Information Science from Kent State University in 2017 and holds several committee appointments in professional organizations such as the American Library Association (ALA) and REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking to support equity, diversity, and inclusion. She is also an editorial board member for the open-access journal, In the Library with the Lead Pipe.

Her research focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) issues in librarianship stemming from personal and professional experiences as a Spanish Speaker, first-generation college student, and first-generation American of Nicaraguan descent. Now, as the Interim Digital Collections Librarian, she works to ensure institutional accountability and representation in our special collections, specifically those in the DigitalCollections@DU platform, among other responsibilities.